Special / Paulding County Board of EducationPaulding County School District Nutrition Director Karen Mathis addresses cafeteria workers during an orientation session last week before Monday’s start of classes.

Paulding students will see three new principals and dozens of new teachers as they begin the school year Monday.

Spokeswoman Suzanne Wooley said the district is “anxiously awaiting the return of our students on [Monday].”

“Everyone from our bus drivers and our cafeteria workers to our teachers are excited about the students’ return,” she said. “We’re committed to achieving our mission of preparing all students for success in the 21st century.”

Officials are expecting about 28,500 students at the district’s 33 schools, which is little change from last year’s state education department count of 28,434.

Two middle schools and an elementary school will have new leadership.

Scott Viness will be principal of Moses Middle School after working as a teacher at P.B. Ritch Middle School last year. Viness formerly served as principal at East Paulding High and Jones Middle schools.

Christine Carson was promoted from assistant principal to principal at P.B. Ritch, while Ann Arnold was promoted from assistant principal at Nebo Elementary to principal at Ragsdale Elementary.

The district hired 203 new employees this year. That total included 131 certified employees, of which 127 were teachers, Wooley said.

It also used internal candidates to fill 30 teacher evaluation and assessment coordinator positions to comply with a new state mandate. That created 30 teacher vacancies which were filled.

New hires also replaced positions vacated through a resignation or retirement, while officials added teaching positions to reduce class sizes districtwide.

A major change this year will be third- through eighth-graders taking the Georgia Milestones test, which replaces the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test.

“We’ll be providing parents and students with additional information throughout the year to prepare them for the change,” Wooley said.

Milestones will use open-ended questions to provide a better gauge of students’ content mastery, according to the Georgia Department of Education.

It also will include a new student growth percentile to show how each student “grew” compared to academic peers with similar histories on test scores.

Wooley, who was recently hired, said her duties include media relations, video work and maintaining and updating the district’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

New information on such issues as school bus routes and the location of school supply lists are among recent posts on the Facebook page, Wooley said.

“I’m really trying to have an open dialog with our followers, [making it a] tool they can use to get their questions answered quickly,” she said.

The Paulding County School District is on Twitter at https://twitter.com/pauldingboe; and Facebook by going to www.facebook.com and searching for Paulding County School District.

*We welcome your comments on the stories and issues of the day and seek to provide a forum for the community to voice opinions. All comments are subject to moderator approval before being made visible on the website but are not edited. The use of profanity, obscene and vulgar language, hate speech, and racial slurs is strictly prohibited. Advertisements, promotions, spam, and links to outside websites will also be rejected. Please read our terms of service for full guides